Raffle will benefit La. charities: Drew Brees and Jonathan Vilma have organized a charity raffle that will result in four winners having a chance to work out with the Saints. The winners will be invited to breakfast with Brees and other Saints, then take part in player-organized offseason workouts on May 25 at Tulane University. Because NFL teams are locked out, players have been unable to attend usual offseason training sessions at club headquarters with their coaches. So Brees and a few dozen teammates have banded together to hold similar workouts at Tulane. The “Be a Professional Football Player for a Day” raffle will benefit Louisiana charities, and the deadline to enter is Friday at 1 p.m. Registration is online at celebritiesforcharity.org.
Record crowds may have helped: The Southeastern Conference baseball tournament is staying in Hoover, Ala., for at least five more years. SEC Commissioner Mike Slive announced an agreement today with the Alabama Sports Foundation and the city of Hoover to keep the tournament at Regions Park through 2016. The league had also sent bid packages for hosting the five-day, double-elimination tournament to Montgomery, Ala.; Memphis, Tenn.; Duluth, Ga.; Jacksonville, Fla.; and Jackson, Miss. It has been held in Hoover since 1998, but the previous deal expired after the 2011 tournament, which starts next week. The SEC said the event drew tournament records of more than 126,000 fans last year.
